Mismatched Shoes
by jeon snow
Summary: This wasn't the first time Doyeon was living in Japan, but this was certainly the first time she was living in Japan and was simultaneously involved in the various affairs of the extraordinary high school basketball teams of the country.
1. Chapter 1

I. "You're wearing two different shoes."

 **A/N.** I read too many OC fics and this is what happened. Doyeon is inspired from a real life person named Doyeon (who's a celebrity and I hella adore her), I'm still unsure on what the pairing should be. Potentially, this could be a Gen if I end up being too lazy to decide a pairing.

I'm pretty new to the fandom, so please bear with me if the first few chapters are awkward with the characterization. I will try my utmost best.

P.S. I'm gong to alter the timeline here a little bit, but by timeline I don't mean change the order of events but instead move the happenings of KnB to an era where touchscreen phones are a thing instead of flip phones. (Basically it's set in a time that's as technologically advanced as us.)

A premise I'm going to use is that, to make things easier for me, I'm gonna use a sentence prompt for each chapter that'll make it easy for me to think of something. This is gonna be. . . fun?

* * *

Since school began, Doyeon hadn't really had the time to talk to her classmates. The move from South Korea (back) to Japan had been a hectic one, with her siblings making it harder for her as well as her parents expecting too much of her and signing her up for practically every youth program in their neighborhood so she could (quote unquote) _get involved_ , and everything else that counted as in-between.

(If they'd moved back into the prefecture Doyeon lived in when she was younger, things certainly would've been easier, but nope!—they just had to move to an entirely new area, didn't they?)

Not that she thought she would've had much of a choice to talk to her classmates had her time been vastly unoccupied. Her status as a Korean made her stick out like a sore thumb; and she couldn't even imagine how much worse that would be had she joined the school in the middle of the year instead of from the beginning.

As it was, though, Doyeon was a social person. She was involved in the cheerleading club when she was in middle school, she was a member of the student council, and she was one of _those_ people who you'd constantly see involved in practically any event the school had to offer. Being social was a routine in her life. Doyeon wasn't used to being the kid who was gossiped about. Doyeon wasn't used to not having _any_ friends who'd talk to her during class.

But, still. She put a smile on her face, and continued to hold her head up high. It was hard for her, but she knew the stage of avoidance from the foreign student would be over soon.

(It was already the second month of the first semester, and though her hopes dwindled by each day, she was too stubborn to give up on the thought of ending her status as a renown social outcast in Seirin.)

The bell should've signaled the end of the class precisely two minutes and thirty-two seconds ago.

Instead, the bell remained silent and the teacher continued to drone on and on and on about… whatever chemistry they were supposed to study. Doyeon fought back her yawn, squinting her eyes together and blinking them every few seconds to avoid the urge to sleep (that was only getting stronger with every word that slipped out of the teacher's lips.)

Her lazy brown orbs looked around, absorbing the sight and letting it sink into her head. Half of her classmates were already in Dreamland, some smarter at their attempt of hiding it from the teacher than others. An amused smirk graced her lips (red, just like the lip tint she'd chosen to wear for today) as she noticed her neighbor sleeping like he was dead to the world, a line of drool connected from a corner of his lips to the wooden desk. It was a wonder how the teacher hadn't smacked him awake yet, but it surely was funny to see how he simply didn't give a damn and continued to sleep like it was the last day of his life.

After looking at him for ten seconds, she looked away, turning her full attention back to the clock stationed on the wall. It was lunch time after this, and considering she _still_ hadn't any luck in getting friends—and wasn't that depressing?—it seemed as if she had two options: to eat lunch alone at her table and gaze out the window like she was part of a sad music video, or to follow what the protagonist of the movie Mean Girls did and eat her lunch inside a bathroom stall.

The bathroom stall option sounded dramatic enough for her flair, but then again, a bathroom was probably _not_ hygienic enough for her to be able to eat comfortably without worrying of the… air germs, that could potentially ruin her food.

So, music video heroine option it was.

Thankfully, the bell rang shortly afterwards—it was late by five minutes, what the heck?—and their teacher was able to get a final word on his lesson (in other words: assigning them assignments to weep over at home) before promptly leaving the room, and her classmates either shaking away their slumber or celebrating loudly that yes, it was lunch time, and it was time to take a well deserved break after all the torture they'd been put through in the span of a few hours.

Doyeon closed her notebook and placed her pen (it was her favourite—it glided so smoothly, though the ink managed to bleed through the scrap-thin material that made up her notebook if she pressed too hard) back inside her simple, tan pencil case. Her lunch box was already placed on the small compartment below her desk, and it'd taken a real drive to not eat it during classes earlier when she'd skipped her breakfast this morning, as she'd overslept after pulling an all nighter to catch up on the soap opera her mother kept gushing about. (It was a pretty good soap opera, although she didn't see why there had to be so much cheating and incest plot twists going around. She preferred her regular dramas back in Korea—though sadly, she'd no luck yet in finding a streaming site she _really_ liked.)

Today's lunch was something she prepared herself. It was a concoction of various Korean snacks she'd bought at the market a few days ago, ranging from honey butter chips, to chocopie, and even to various shrimp snacks. She could practically hear the voice of her best friend yelling at her about how this wasn't nearly as nutritious as a growing girl like her needed, but she pushed it to the back of her mind, instead happily scooping up a portion of the snacks and shoving it into her mouth. Tasty.

The chatter of her classmates provided as white noise for Doyeon as she continued to consume her lunch (was it really lunch rather than brunch?), pausing every few seconds or so whenever she felt the nausea that accompanied her habit of eating far too fast for her own good.

She stopped eating several minutes afterwards, already too full to continue, but when she glanced down at her lunchbox, a frown tilted her lips as she saw there was still a small portion of the snacks left. Did she pack too much?

Considering she wasn't one to let food go to waste, she looked to her left, and upon seeing that her neighbor—the one who always slept without a care in the world and amused her to no end—was there, chatting to… something, she guessed, considering she didn't see anyone. Doyeon placed the lunchbox that was previously on top of her table to his, and his head swiveled up, glancing at her with a stare that looked more like a glare.

Well, wasn't he an intimidating fellow?

"You can finish it if you want. I'm not hungry anymore," Doyeon explained, making a vague pointing gesture at the food she'd offered. The harsh lines around his eyes softened slightly, and Doyeon pulled her lips into a smile. "They're Korean snacks, I bought them a few days ago."

Her neighbor—his hair was a shocking shade of red and what were those eyebrows even?—gave her a long, suspicious look. In return, Doyeon mustered the most innocent smile she could, which was really a task because she was never good at pretending to be something she wasn't. After a moment or two, he looked at the food before shrugging, apparently the nonverbal version of _eh, fuck it,_ and took an experimental (but still large) bite out of a honey butter chip.

Almost immediately, his expression brightened and all trace of hesitation was gone. The wariness was gone, replaced by an almost ravenous hunger that only served to remind Doyeon that he somehow resembled a tiger.

"Could I try some too, Kim-san?"

The unexpected voice—somehow eerie yet calming to the ears at the same time, also the most monotone voice she'd heard in her life—came out of nowhere and Doyeon yelped as soon as she spotted a high-schooler with light blue hair sitting across the redhead. She blinked. _'How did I not notice him before?_

She shook away the thoughts, however, promptly remembering her manners. "Sure thing!" Her reply missed a beat, as she'd been shocked for a moment, although Doyeon was able to keep the surprise out of her tone. The blue-head murmured a low 'thank you' before trying some of the snacks himself, taking a particular liking to the sweet, mushy chocopie. Oddly, it seemed to fit him, but Doyeon remained silent; drinking in the sight of her leftovers being scarfed down by two hungry classmates.

What were their names again?

"Oi, Kuroko, don't finish all the brown biscuits thing. I haven't tried those."

"It's because you're too slow, Kagami-kun."

Kuroko was the one with the blue hair and Kagami had red hair and the funky eyebrows. Alright. She could work with that.

The friendship they shared was interesting to her. It was obvious they had contrasting personalities, but somehow, they got along nearly as well as she did with one of her close friends back in South Korea. Perhaps the whole 'opposites attract' thing was true, after all.

The lunchbox was empty within a matter of minutes (perhaps not nearly as long as that), and Kuroko placed the empty box back on Doyeon's desk. The girl smiled in delight, not having wasted any of her food today, and promptly placed the container back inside her multicolored backpack.

"Thank you, Kim-san," Kuroko piped up. In return, Doyeon merely nodded.

"It was no trouble."

There was still five minutes left until their break ended, so Doyeon intended to skim through the manga she'd managed to fish out of her younger brother's collection yesterday. It was nothing too interesting, holding the premise of a basic shoujo manga with a popular guy and geek girl concept, but there was nothing wrong with clichés. Predictability wasn't always a terrible thing, although Doyeon viewed herself more on the spontaneous side of things.

"Oi. What's wrong with that?"

A harsh-sounding voice broke her out of her thoughts. Doyeon tore her gaze apart from the manga she held, instead looking at Kagami's direction, who in turn seemed to be confused whether to look at her face, or her—feet?

"Why do you ask?" Doyeon wondered, sounding genuinely confused. Kagami's brows furrowed (and it was a funny sight, though she didn't think it was a good idea to voice it) and he gave a pointed glare at the soles of her feet.

"You're wearing two different shoes."

A look down confirmed his words. She _was_ wearing two different shoes after all. The one she wore on her right foot was a plain black sneaker, while her left wore a particularly hideous shade of orange shoe.

"Ah. I see you've noticed."

Kagami sounded dubious. "You did that on purpose?"

Sheepishly, Doyeon nodded. "Yeah. It's a way for me to express myself. Just as how some people express themselves with poetry or comics, I do it with my shoes. Do you like it?" She beamed at him, gaining herself an odd glance from the redhead.

"That's pretty weird—"

"Hey, you don't see me going on about how weird your eyebrows are, right?"

* * *

After school was finished at last (at least, for that _day_ ), Doyeon had an inexplicable urge to go home. Alas, such trivialities were meant to be ignored, considering on every Wednesday after school, she had to stay behind for the dance club.

The dance club was the only club she was a part of. In the beginning, she wanted to join a cheerleading team, but it seemed there was no cheerleading team in Seirin. Shame, but Doyeon was new, and she didn't quite have the guts to demand a new cheerleading club when she wasn't confident in her own ability to gather any members—alas, she settled for dance, something she enjoyed and had some talent for as well.

It wasn't a very popular club, considering the title of Seirin's most popular extracurricular activity was held by their judo team, but the people were alright. Nobody went out of their way to befriend her, but nobody avoided her just for having a different race; to Doyeon, that was all that mattered.

"Rina-senpai!" Doyeon called a loud greeting to the dance club's leader, forming her hand into a quick salute, her lips tugged into a cheeky grin. Takahashi Rina was a year older than Doyeon, with body proportions that all but made up for her virtually-challenged height. Doyeon liked her enough. Although she didn't talk much with Rina outside club activities, the senior was always welcoming, although easily triggered if one managed to find a way to talk about heights.

"Doyeon-chan!" A sunny grin was on Rina's lips, one that was easily returned. "I've finished reviewing your evaluation video."

Ah, the evaluation video.

Precisely a week before, after around a month of practice, there was an evaluation held to examine who'd be in the dance club's main lineup for competitions. Naturally, Doyeon was obligated to submit her own evaluation video too—it was a good thing that the evaluation video was really just a video of them dancing to any song they wanted, and Doyeon was able to dance to a routine that didn't go past her comfort zone. (Nothing along the lines of major growth, but Doyeon knew what she was good at, and what she wasn't. She could work on her weaknesses later.)

"So, what do you think?" There was an edge of anticipation seeping into Doyeon's voice.

Rina noticed it, judging by the way she looked at the younger female knowingly. "I'll announce your result along with the rest of the club _later._ " Doyeon's cheeks flushed in embarrassment, realizing that she'd been waiting for Rina outside the dance club's meeting room while the rest of the club was inside.

"Right. Yeah. Totally!" The Korean chirped, and no, she was _not_ running away from her embarrassment when she practically scurried inside the classroom. And if Rina was laughing behind her, well, Doyeon pretended she didn't hear the older.

She made it.

The main lineup consisted of six dancers, and out of the ten girls in the club, Doyeon was able to secure a spot in the lineup. Doyeon couldn't help but feel a hint of pride, thus making it nearly impossible for her to wipe away the infectious grin that seemingly controlled her lips.

"To members of the main lineup, there'll be practice every Saturday in the dance studio across the school, so don't forget. I'll add you guys into a group chat later." Those were Rina's closing words for today's meeting before everyone went off to their respective ways; most of them went home right after practice, considering dance practice ended at 18.30PM, although a few liked to hang around the various hangout spots scattered near the school building.

"Ami-chan, let's go karaoke!"

"Ne, ne, Nami we have to check out that new western restaurant."

"Crap! I'm late, I bet my boyfriend's pissed!"

Doyeon couldn't help but smile as she heard their conversations. The nostalgia was harsh, hitting her with various memories of her middle school days when she'd been in their position instead of being the odd one out. Still, she had to remind herself to be… un-bitter? Not bitter? Whatever it was. Either way, being bitter would only hurt her even more—she'd seen how it transformed perfectly decent characters into monsters in all the dramas—so, no matter how bad the temptation, she couldn't let it get to her.

(A task that was lot easier said than done.)

* * *

Maji Burger was located strategically in a sense that meant it wasn't too far from school, but it also didn't stray away from the path to the station (which was Doyeon's means of transporting herself home.) It helped that the food was pretty edible and fast food tasted the same everywhere, although there wasn't a Maji Burger back in South Korea—they had Lotteria instead, but Doyeon always preferred the family-run chicken restaurants back home instead of the usual fast food served practically everywhere.

Dance practice had left her hungry, and seeing as she still had enough money to buy a cheeseburger and lemon tea, Maji Burger was a good candidate for a place to dine. Her parents were away and her younger brother must've been tired already, cooking dinner for one.

(Ah, something she hadn't mentioned. Doyeon was a terrible cook. Her parents, too, so it was up to her younger brother to take care of making sure the family didn't starve to death. Thank goodness for Dongyeon, who was practically a saint reincarnated into their dysfunctional, but loving family.)

A glance at the menu displayed behind the counter had her calculating the estimated price in her head, and, satisfied she'd still have enough to buy something for tomorrow's lunch, Doyeon promptly recalled her order to the person behind the cashier. The employee was a girl who looked like she was in college, with dirty blonde hair that was cropped short and murky blue eyes that reminded her of a river, somewhat. "I'll take one plain double cheeseburger and one lemon tea, please."

Doyeon made sure to leave a tip into the jar afterwards, knowing full well the crap fast food workers had to go through after watching all those social experiment videos on YouTube. (Probably not the best source, but then again, she'd defend herself by saying it was the thought that mattered.)

After getting her food, she held the tray close to her chest as she looked around the place to see if there were any empty tables. Her lips formed a pout, expression fallen, as she noticed every spot was taken. Why was this place so busy? It was a Wednesday night, it wasn't as if this was a weekend, or something.

Before she turned around to request to have her order wrapped so she could eat it at home, most likely her homework 'snack', she noticed a familiar face sitting at one of the tables near the window. It was—what was his name again? The one with the double brows?—Kagami, who seemed to have an entire mountain of burgers stacked on top one another that led her to believe this kind of thing was a regular occurrence. Noticing he didn't seem to have all the seats around his table taken, she jostled her way there, and after murmuring her greetings, placed her tray on top of the table.

"Hello, Kim-san."

There was Kuroko again, sitting precisely in front of Kagami. Doyeon flinched, biting her tongue to avoid a startled yelp that would've drawn the attention of the whole restaurant. How did he keep doing that? Shaking her head, Doyeon cleared away the thoughts, remembering time didn't stop every time she got stuck in one of her inner monologues.

"I hope you two don't mind if I sit here. Everywhere else is full, you see," she explained, sounding self-assured. Kagami looked around the restaurant, and, upon realizing that yes, everywhere else was indeed full, the redhead shrugged as if to say 'whatever.'

Not affected by the rudeness of the gesture, Doyeon sat next to Kuroko, who scooted over to give her more space—taking his drink along with him. It was then that she noticed he didn't seem to have any food ordered, and so, a worried look made its way onto her usually carefree features.

"You're not eating anything, Kuroko-kun?"

"No, the milkshake is sufficient, Kim-san."

Though not all of her worries were alleviated, considering as a milkshake couldn't possibly be considered as a healthy dinner (not that she was one to talk, considering she'd eaten only snacks for lunch earlier on that very same day), Kuroko didn't seem to have a problem with it—so she dropped the topic, instead taking a bite out of her own burger.

As she continued eating, she tried to avoid looking at Kagami who was devouring his burgers in a way that reminded her of a tiger who hadn't eaten in days. A view like that would probably only lessen her appetite, so she continued eating, in a pace that was fast compared to others but normal for her, though surely nowhere as fast as Kagami's.

Their dinner wasn't a conversational affair, although Doyeon suspected it was because they didn't know what to discuss with her in the mix. It did make her feel guilty, although she wasn't sure on _what_ exactly she was supposed to say either—ask the about their day? Be overly curious about their personal lives?

In the end, after finally finishing her food and only having to slurp down her drink, she decided on a topic. "Why aren't you guys at home yet?"

"Basketball practice," Kagami replied between chews, and so, his answer sounded more like ' _bskfball pwactsh_ ', and judging from the stoic demeanor Kuroko adopted, Doyeon suspected this was a regular affair.

"Oh! The two of you are in the basketball team?" Her question received nods from the both of them, and Doyeon placed her index finger on her chin, tapping it in thought. "I've heard we've got a strong team. The two of you must be pretty good at basketball, then."

Personally, she didn't hold much of an interest in basketball, though she knew a couple things about it from being an active supporter of her middle school's basketball team as well as this one manga she'd finished reading that revolved around two rival basketball clubs. She wasn't particularly athletic aside from gymnastics and cheerleading, which, she felt, explained as to why she didn't hold much enthusiasm for sports along the lines of track (blegh), soccer, or basketball.

"You play?" Kagami questioned, and Doyeon shook her head. "Heh, I guessed that. You don't smell like someone who plays basketball."

Smell? O…kay.

She brushed off the oddity of the statement, choosing to contemplate it in the future instead of the present moment. "I'm more of a cheerleading person, I guess." She _was_ the captain of the cheerleading club in middle school, after all.

"So you like to wave around pompoms?"

"That's not all there is to cheerleading," Doyeon said, a little defensive. Cheerleading was more complicated than just using pompoms and shaking butts—there was gymnastics involved, and a good cheerleader had to be graceful with her movements instead of just being plain flashy without any kind of beauty behind it. (It did sound more like a description of a ballerina or a regular gymnast, but that was Doyeon's opinion. Personally, she always disliked it when a cheerleader's style was all flashy and eye-grabbing without any sort of fluidity or grace to the movements.)

Kuroko was the one who spoke this time. "I wasn't aware there was a cheerleading team in Seirin."

Doyeon beamed at him. "You're right, there isn't! I joined the dance club instead, but I was a cheerleader in middle school."

The conversation dwindled once more afterwards, but that was fine with her. She didn't expect to be all chatty and buddy-buddy with her two classmates so soon, anyways. They'd only started conversing earlier that day, after all. It took time for people to open up, and to her, even having a casual (albeit short and slightly awkward) conversation with _two_ classmates was enough to make her happy for the rest of the day.

(Maybe that didn't count for much considering there were only a few hours left for that day, but well, po- _tay_ -toh po- _tah_ -to.)

"I should get going now." That was said some time after she finally gulped down the last of her drink. Doyeon stood up bowed slightly to the two teens. "Sorry for disrupting any conversation the two of you might've had earlier, and thanks for letting me sit here. I'll see you two tomorrow!" Both Kuroko and Kagami respectively replied to her goodbye, one more polite than the other.

"I enjoyed this. I hope we can do it again sometimes," said Doyeon with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**II. "I'll sell you to the circus."**

 **A/N.** I have to try my best to finish this, my whole commitment issues with stories are really getting out of control? I think the only way I can solve it is if I finish one story, ah. . . Also, thank you to those who faved/followed so far! I appreciate it tons. You guys are awesome.

P.S. Any references made to kdramas or manga or anime or bands are all real, aka you can actually look them up if you're interested to find out more about the fandoms referenced in this story.

* * *

Though she wasn't sure how it started exactly—okay, that was a lie, she totally knew how it started—Doyeon started having lunch with Kagami and Kuroko every time the two other teenagers were in the classroom to eat their lunch. It actually started with Doyeon inviting herself to their lunches, as a way to test the waters if they welcomed her presence or not, but thankfully, neither seemed to be bothered by the girl who always brought far too much lunch and not enough appetite to eat it all herself. Even Kagami hadn't said anything rude, although Doyeon supposed her judgment on him simply being rough around the edges was more likely to be true than the thought of Kagami Taiga being a _genuinely_ bad person. He just didn't seem the type, although she could definitely see why many were intimidated by him.

Ah, and regarding Kuroko—although she still wasn't able to always spot him immediately, Doyeon could feel like she was getting a bit better at noticing him after around a week of constantly trying to notice him during class.

(To her amusement, Kuroko was much better than Kagami when it came to sleeping in class. While Kagami was someone who slept without giving a damn about who found out—resulting in many scoldings and near detentions—Kuroko was careful, although she was sure that even if he wasn't, the teacher wouldn't find out anyway. What with his lack of presence and everything.)

She wasn't sure if she could consider the three of them as friends, but they were definitely not strangers now. Perhaps acquaintances? She liked the sound of that. She liked the sound of that very much.

On this particular Monday, however, both Kagami and Kuroko left the classroom during break. They didn't tell her why exactly they left the class, but Doyeon didn't really expect them to anyway—after all, they weren't friends, and their interactions were limited to whenever they were in class. They didn't hang out outside school, and Doyeon didn't have either Kagami nor Kuroko's phone numbers, though she was certain the both of them had each other's. They certainly seemed close enough for that, she'd concluded, after observing their interactions as well as their interesting dynamic that seemed to perfectly complement each other.

(If this was some kind of anime, she was sure that the both of them would have fujoshi who shipped them.)

"Hi! Doyeon-chan, right?"

The pronunciation of her first name was a little awkward, but Doyeon appreciated the attempt, nevertheless. She could very well remember the difficulties she used to face when speaking new Japanese words, the same difficulty she still faced now, although to a much lesser degree.

"That's me!" Doyeon chirped, plastering a bright, welcoming grin to greet the girl who bothered to spend a moment of her life—which would never be returned so she really hoped the girl wouldn't have any regrets—to greet the foreign student. "Is there anything you needed?"

With a touch of hesitance in her movements, the slightly plump girl pulled out a chair in front of Doyeon's desk and carefully took a seat, before focusing her whole attention (it was at this point that Doyeon realized the girl had very pretty cerulean eyes) to the Korean. "Um, you see, I've always wanted to approach you but I was always a little scared," the girl admitted, a pink blush staining her cute, chubby cheeks. Doyeon's grinned turned more genuine as it widened, and she propped her palm underneath her chin, gazing at the other girl expectantly—waiting for her to continue. "I'm Yagami Aiko, and I like K-Dramas!"

The statement managed to catch the tall girl off-guard. She blinked—once, twice—before it fully registered into her brain as to what that statement meant, and with her previous social experiences, managed to get her head on straight and immediately directed her thoughts towards some of the more famous television shows Aiko was bound to know if the other girl followed the scene.

"You don't know how much I've been looking forward to talking about the latest episode of Weightlifting Fairy with someone!"

* * *

Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays marked the schedule for her part-time job at a convenience store. As many places she constantly visited nowadays, the store itself wasn't too far of a distance from her school, making it easy for her to head over to work immediately after school. Aiko offered to walk with her to the convenience store, and as happy as Doyeon was over having a newfound friend—considering she and Aiko managed to click faster than she did with Kuroko and Kagami—she didn't want to trouble the other girl, instead insisting for her to go home instead of going to a small convenience store for the sake of friendship.

It was a good gesture, but Doyeon didn't like it whenever she made things more difficult for others. Sometimes she did selfish things without thinking them through, and she didn't like guilt and self loathing that came after she realized what she'd done and the anxiety sunk in with the usual overthinking.

Her job mostly had her going around the shop and checking if anything was expired, restocking things, or just generally helping out customers with their purchases. There was only one cashier, so she and the other person who shared the shift with her liked taking turns to make things fair.

"You're finally here," were the words that she heard immediately upon entering the store. Waiting for her was her coworker Fujioka Hayato, another high-school student from a school that was even nearer to the convenience store than Seirin was. He was, however, a second year; ergo, a year older than her. Doyeon had the decency to look guilty as she mustered the courage to spare him a lopsided smile. Hayato was scary sometimes, in a way that meant she didn't know what he was thinking and his entire demeanor was just. . . scary. It was different from Kagami's intimidation, and was more subtle and quiet, yet more fearful. It didn't help that he didn't exactly bother to try getting to know her aside from asking about her grade and her name.

"I'm sorry, Fujioka-san."

"Eh, whatever. Just go get ready already," he seemed to mumble the last part, and that was all she needed to hear before running to the room located behind the cashier—an employees only area that served as a lounge for their manager as well as a place for the workers to store their belongings. Doyeon shoved her backpack into her locker and changed into her uniform after locking the door (nobody would mind, considering she was the only one in the room and Hayato was busy outside.)

Her cellphone on silent and shoved inside the pocket of her jeans, Doyeon unlocked the door and stumbled outside the room, just in time as a group of high school students walked inside the store. Hayato was tending to the cashier for the first half of their shift, so Doyeon busied herself with helping the customers, occasionally having to remind herself that _the customer was always right_ and that no matter how idiotic a customer was being, she wasn't allowed to show her annoyance if she wanted to keep her job.

Just another day in the life of Kim Doyeon.

* * *

The automated bell rang for the nth time during her shift, but this time, Doyeon felt a thrill of surprise when the people who stepped inside the establishment were people she could actually recognize. She'd seen a few students wearing the Seirin uniform during her job, but previously, she never really knew their names—they were either upperclassmen or people who didn't bother to talk to her, and those in the latter criteria were an abundance. This time, however, she recognized the scowling redhead to be Kagami as well as a few other people with him; mostly guys, though she noticed there was one female among them.

Masking her surprise, however, Doyeon had to remind herself that she was working. Therefore, personal relations were supposed to be forgotten for the time being, and she had to show utmost professionalism to whoever it was that came to the convenience store; it was one of the lessons that had been drilled into her during her training period a month ago, when she first got the job through her mother's connections (meaning, the owner of the store was complaining about a shortage of employees—and being drinking buddies with her mother, her mother immediately proposed the idea of Doyeon working for him. Was her input considered? No, but it wasn't like this was a rare occurrence.)

"Welcome to Shibui Convenience Store. Is there anything I could help you with?" Doyeon recited the line dutifully, keeping the strained, business smile on her face. It looked like an empty smile more than anything, but she forced her eyes to smile as well. Customer service was a real thing, and she could feel Hayato's eyes drilling to the back of her head, probably watching to see how she'd react. He'd been doing this since she started, though she suspected it was because he wanted to be the first one to report to the owner if he saw her slacking off. It was all a rather scary ordeal.

"Kim?" Kagami seemed surprised, if she was to judge by the widening of his eyes and how he wasn't able to hide the shock out of his voice. It didn't surprise her, that he wasn't a person who liked to mask his emotions. He always seemed too straightforward for something like that.

"Yes, I am employee Kim Doyeon," Doyeon steadily responded, never losing the business smile on her face. She'd perfected the smile in front of the mirror whenever she was in the bathroom. Her cheeks didn't even hurt that much anymore, if she compared it to the first month of working here. "Is there anything I could help you with?" The question was repeated once more, although this time, she pressed slightly.

"Where do you keep your energy drinks, Kim-san?" Kuroko was there too, it seemed. Doyeon felt immense pride when she realized she didn't jump out of surprise, instead only flinching slightly. She was a naturally jumpy person, bordering on paranoid, but because she'd started forcing herself to _not_ be surprised whenever Kuroko popped out of seemingly nowhere, she could at least attempt to control her reflexes when it came to the blue-haired youth.

"Follow me." Doyeon walked towards their cooler, and stepped off to the side to show them the contents. "Is there anything else I could help you with?"

"That won't be necessary, thank you," one of the guys she wasn't acquainted with mentioned. She noted he had a nice pair of glasses, and simply nodded, flashing one last smile before walking back towards the door to greet any other customers that'd come by.

After the group of Seirin students paid for their purchases, Kagami surprised her by personally giving her the leftover change. (He'd been the one to pay, apparently something about losing a game or a bet.)

"Keep it."

The words spoken were simple, perhaps borderline rude, but still.

Even the simple, unexpected act of kindness meant something to her.

' _What a weird guy.'_

* * *

Dongyeon was waiting for her when Doyeon finally arrived back home sometime after 20.30PM.

"You're back." The relief was evident in the younger Kim's tone.

"I see you missed me," Doyeon teased, enjoying the embarrassment it brought to him. Dongyeon was even taller than Doyeon despite being two years younger than her—and that was saying something considering the girl was a snug 172cm, plenty tall for a girl—and although his features were more matured than Doyeon's own, his spirit was definitely more childlike than Doyeon's near transparent, but still there, maturity. "I brought back some sushi for us. It's going to go bad tomorrow, so we better eat it now. You haven't cooked dinner?"

"Not yet." Dongyeon pursed his lips, looking confused whether to thank his sister or scold her for coming home so late without giving prior notice. As Doyeon's shift ended at 19.00, she was usually back at home before the clock struck eight. However, he wasn't given more time to contemplate as his older sister walked past him, already starting to prepare their eating utensils for tonight's free dinner.

Dinner was a quiet affair between the two siblings. Neither were actually talkers whenever they ate. Doyeon was always busy trying to control her eating pace (and always failing), while Dongyeon was the type to eat slowly in order to fully enjoy the taste of the food. There was, however, one thing that never changed whenever they had dinner: Doyeon was always the one to finish her food first, often having to wait an extra fifteen minutes for her brother to finish eating as well. During that period of time, the older girl often toyed with her phone, playing games or answering messages from friends back in Korea.

Once Dongyeon finally finished eating, setting down his utensils in a manner that was infinitely more gentle than Doyeon's, the younger cleared his throat. Doyeon put down her phone, focusing her attention on her sibling.

"Where were you."

Doyeon cringed at the question that came out more like a statement, but Dongyeon seemed undaunted. "I missed the train," she said sheepishly, laughing slightly afterwards. That was really what happened. She'd been preoccupied with cleaning up the store after her shift—because apparently Hayato had something important to do with his girlfriend (how did _he_ have a girlfriend while _she_ was still single?)—as well as checking the expiry dates once more that she'd lost track of time. Once she'd reached the station, she'd been preoccupied with keeping herself awake so much that she missed the sound of her train home departing; it delayed her, resulting in her arrival at home much later than usual.

"You missed the train."

"I'm not lying," Doyeon mumbled, a little sulky. Dongyeon was like a child when it came to grudges. Even something as simple as arriving home later than usual could result in him making sure her food was much saltier than what she could handle.

"Yeah, okay," Dongyeon muttered, shaking his head at his sister's antics. "Miyeon texted me earlier."

The atmosphere, previously comfortable and light despite Dongyeon's worries, turned tense.

"Oh. She did?"

"She did." Dongyeon didn't say anything for a while, letting his older sister digest the information. "Asked me something about why you weren't answering her texts and ignoring her calls."

Doyeon snorted, annoyance showing for the first time today. "If she can't use her brain for something as simple as that…"

Obviously, Dongyeon didn't agree with his sister's harsh words, shooting her a glare of disagreement. "Doyeon, you're not supposed to say that to—"

"—she's not my friend anymore, Dongyeon. Drop it."

Although he didn't seem inclined to drop it as his sister had demanded, Dongyeon rolled his eyes. "They want to make things up, Doyeon. You always seem convinced that I'm terrible with my grudges, but you do know you can be just as bad, right?" Doyeon flinched. "Difference is I tend to make grudges faster than you—I can't hold my temper—but you always keep your feelings shut and I think that's more dangerous."

Doyeon sighed, no longer in the mood to converse. She knew what Dongyeon was saying was true, but it still hurt her pride to admit it. "I told you to drop it, Dongyeon. Continue and I'll sell you to the circus."

At the threat, Dongyeon gaped, knowing full well that even though Doyeon was only kidding, he knew that she was fully aware of his phobia of the circus. "Fine, don't talk about it. Just know that you can't avoid this forever, _noona._ One day everything will have to be dealt with."

"I know, but today is not that day."

Dongyeon rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, _noona._ Whatever you say."

* * *

Before she slept, Doyeon checked the inbox of her email. A grin grew on her lips as she scrolled down through various emails from her friends, mostly pictures from their vacations that they'd told her about via messages, but the grin froze when her thumbs hovered over a certain message.

 **To** : kimdo

 **From** : miyeonii .kr

 **Subject** : I'm sorry.

Doyeon didn't dare to look at the content of the message. Instead, she shut off her phone, placed it on her bedside table, and proceeded to sleep.

She would deal with that later.

For now, there was no reason for her to—furthermore, she wouldn't let herself be bothered by _that_ topic again. Not right now, at least. There would be a time for that, but for now, it was only the time to heal.

* * *

 **Terminology.**

Noona = older sister.


	3. Chapter 3

**III. "These shoes are killing me!"**

 **A/N.** I'm so confused as to which route I should take. As in, should I make this a Gen fic, or should I pair Doyeon off with Kagami or something—I'm not sure about the others yet because so far, I see the most spark of potential between her and Kagami. Maybe my plans could change. I don't know, I'll go with what happens. Sorry if my writing is sucky and all that, after all, I'm still learning. If I wasn't, then I'd already be scribbling the outline of a masterpiece instead of typing about an original character I'm not sure anyone gives a shit about.

Other than that, I'd like to thank everyone who has supported this story so far, as well as **Dina Sana** and **Nicole NightLock** who left reviews! (I always appreciate reviews, they truly make my day—I'm sure authors get what I'm talking about here.) Weightlifting Fairy is a _gem._

* * *

Somehow, Rina had been able to pull some strings (meaning she'd contacted a friend and persuaded them; keep in mind that in this context, persuade meant annoy into) so that Seirin's dance club was able to hold a joint practice with another school's dance club. Their leader had been particularly bubbly about it since the moment she first announced it, mentioning something about how this was going to be _fun_ and they were going to have a blast.

Truthfully, Doyeon wasn't sure if she was able to believe that, but she tried to keep her spirits high. She was always curious about the dance clubs of other schools. If she was to judge herself, Seirin's dance club wasn't too bad; all of their main dancers were talented, and the ones who weren't on the main team were constantly improving under Rina's watchful eye so they could catch up to their teammates. Doyeon herself could see the improvements if she compared her dancing now to the dancing she did when she first joined the club—she was now more confident in her movements, every move fluid and she was starting to grow her own flair as well.

"What's the name of the school again?" She heard someone ask their leader, and Doyeon perked up, listening keenly to the conversation. Truth be told, she didn't remember that particular detail either.

"Shūtoku!"

Ah, right. It was Shūtoku. The name rung a bell—it felt as if she'd heard that name before somewhere, although she couldn't remember where. Perhaps it was mentioned in passing? She knew that Aiko in particular liked to gush about the hot guys from other schools, and while Doyeon was unsure how her friend was able to know that many people, she did know that Aiko probably talked about Shūtoku's male population at some point.

That was probably it.

"Doyeon-chan!" Rina shouted, all the way from her seat at the front of the bus to Doyeon who sat in the very back. "How are you feeling?"

Taken aback at the sudden question, Doyeon blinked, unsure if she should shout her answer or merely say something in her usual tone of voice. "I'm excited!" Doyeon exclaimed in the end, raising her voice higher than usual. Rina grinned, a spark of determination burning in her eyes.

"That's right you are!" Rina shouted even louder, causing Doyeon to sweatdrop. "Everyone, we're going to show them just how good we are at dancing so all of you _better_ be excited!"

This side of Rina was a little scary. Doyeon admired how the older always seemed to have a flame within her, and she couldn't imagine Rina with a broken will. She was one of those people who seemed to radiate warmth, and Doyeon could imagine her as a person whose flames burned brighter whenever there was an obstacle thrown her way. However, that flame got out of control sometimes, often showcasing a scarier side of Rina—this seemed to be one of those moments, but the dance club was used to it by now.

Their transportation arrived at Shūtoku a few minutes after Rina's borderline threat, and the club didn't rush as they walked out of the bus, instead going out in an orderly manner. At the very back, Doyeon was the last one to leave the bus, and by that time the others started walking already. She kept her pace brisk to catch up to them, and she remained at the back of the crowd, not paying much attention to her teammates but rather drinking in the sight of Shūtoku.

Undoubtedly, it seemed to have better facilities than Seirin, although that comparison was unfair when one considered that Shūtoku had been around longer than Seirin (which was only one year old, and already doing pretty well, if she could say.)

They stopped in front of the school gates, with Rina checking their absence one by one. Satisfied at last after seeing they were all intact, she pushed the gates open and marched towards the entrance of the high school. It was evident that the vertically challenged teen was especially pumped the way athletes usually were before a competition, because as far as Doyeon knew, athletes were either nervous or pumped if they were faced with a hefty challenge. Rina definitely fit the latter stereotype more, Doyeon thought, if she thought about the other's fiery personality.

The school was mostly empty, considering this was a Saturday. If her knowledge was correct, then the only students who came to school during a Saturday were members of a club that practiced during those days. Most likely athletes, now that she really considered it. She'd seen both Kuroko and Kagami around Seirin too on Saturday, and she was proud to say they'd reached a level of acquaintanceship that had them greeting each other when they passed each other by in the hallways.

Because Shūtoku was an established school, their dance club was able to persuade the school to have their practice in one of the auditoriums. The auditorium itself was rather big in size, enough to comfortably accommodate the students while not being too lavish, keeping to simplicity and sufficiency. It was practical, for a lack of better word.

"Kiko-chan!"

Rina greeted the girl standing at the center of the stage with an exuberant tone. 'Kiko-chan' was drop dead gorgeous, and this was the first thing that registered in Doyeon's brain, as she drank in the sight of Shūtoku's dance club.

(Oh, and because the world was unfair, it seemed as if _everyone_ in Shūtoku's dance club was attractive. They all reminded her of models who could _dance._ It was a blow to her confidence, to know that she'd be facing off such pretty dancers—she had the feeling they had the talent to back up their looks, too.)

"Hello, Rina." Kiko's voice was cold and smooth, although Doyeon could see an amused smirk as she gazed at Rina. "I was starting to think you wouldn't come."

"As if I'd miss this!" Rina denied, huffing loudly. "It's not my fault we ran into some traffic. Kiko-chan, you know me well enough to know I would never miss a chance to practice with my eternal rival!"

Eternal rival?

That reminded her of an anime featuring a bushy browed ninja who wore an atrocious amount of green, but then again, that didn't seem to be relevant information right now; so Doyeon pushed it to the back of her head.

Oddly enough, Kiko seemed to enjoy humoring Rina. "Of course. I was just teasing, I know you couldn't refuse a chance to meet me and my team."

It was as if they were pseudo-flirting. Huh.

* * *

Although Doyeon clearly remembered the meeting being informed as a 'joint practice', it ended up being more of a dance battle session rather than practicing in harmony.

There was no _real_ animosity behind it, of course, but Doyeon wouldn't really consider it as a peaceful practice either. Rina and Kiko were increasingly competitive towards each other, although Doyeon did wonder for a moment if she was the only one who noticed the tension between the both of them that leaned more towards the sexual side. (Of course, Doyeon wasn't one to discriminate between sexualities, so if it turned out that her hunch was real and the leader really _was_ not as straight as Doyeon personally was, she wouldn't judge.)

Most of the battles were between Rina and Kiko, although everyone got their turn to show off their skills against their opponent. Doyeon herself was pitted against a girl who was even taller than her whose dance style was focused on popping. It was a good match, although in mock dance battles like the one she just experienced, there was no official winner and loser, so she couldn't say whether she won or lost. It was just fun. She enjoyed it thoroughly, and she particularly enjoyed how her opponent was able to go all out against her—it made her feel worthy, somehow, having an opponent who didn't hold back against you.

"These shoes are killing me!"

Rina was wailing about how her heels hurt like a bitch. Personally, Doyeon was skeptical as to why the second year was wearing heels in the first place. She'd seen idols do it on TV when they performed at music shows, but she always wondered about _how_ they did it. She could barely walk with them on, much less dance.

("It really helps with your dancing skills though," Rina said that to her as a defense, claiming she'd read about it somewhere online. Doyeon wasn't fully convinced yet, but she knew there had to be some truth in that, considering the older's movements today seemed… different than usual, but in a way that wasn't bad.)

"Then you shouldn't have worn them," Kiko commented, her tone matter-of-fact. Doyeon smothered a giggle, instead looking away pointedly at the suddenly very interesting ceiling. "Why don't you get one of your kouhai to fetch you some ice or something? Or maybe a cold drink, you could press that instead."

"Does that really work?"

"In theory it should because it's cold, but I don't—"

"Doyeon, come here!"

The younger girl walked towards the older, already expecting her task. It wasn't that she liked eavesdropping, it was just that Rina was _loud._ One didn't have to try to hear the conversation, although a part of her felt bad for listening in to something that was potentially private.

"There's a vending machine around here. Could you please get me what looks like the coldest drink in there?"

"Ah, sure, senpai. The money?"

Rina was taken off guard at the statement, obviously having forgot about the issue of money. "I didn't bring my wallet—shit. I thought I wouldn't need to buy anything." Doyeon could practically hear the pout in her voice. "My beautiful, gorgeous, lovely kouhai—"

"—okay, I'll let you borrow my money," Doyeon cut her off, laughing slightly afterwards. At least the usually shameless senior had the decency to look a little shy at that, cheeks turning into the lightest shade of red. "I'll get going now. Rina-senpai, Kiko-san." That was her farewell before she left the auditorium, intending to find a vending machine as soon as possible.

(The whole concept of a school having a vending machine was pretty cool, considering the closest thing to a vending machine was a water dispenser back in Seirin. When she heard vending machines, she didn't think of schools—but then again, things were different in a school of Shūtoku's calibre.)

* * *

After stumbling upon the same hallway for the third time, Doyeon grudgingly admitted that yes, she was lost; she had no idea how to find the vending machine, and now she had no idea how to get back to the auditorium. _Great._ She loved her life with all the burning flames of youth she could muster.

Why wasn't there some kind of Google Maps but for buildings? That would make life a ton easier, because Doyeon knew this wasn't the first time she'd gotten lost inside a building. There was this one time back in Korea when she joined a cram school during her last year of middle school, and the building was big and extremely tall, seeming more like an office than a cram school—she couldn't even attend her first day of class there, however, because she wound up taking an unintentional tour around the building as she got lost and wound up anywhere that _wasn't_ her class.

It was wild, and while Shūtoku's building was nothing compared to the cram school's, it was still a major pain in the derriere.

"Shin-chan, don't 'cha think I look better in this picture than the other one?"

"I don't care, Takao."

The banter of two boys (at least, their voice sounded like boys) broke her out of her reverie. Doyeon stilled in her tracks, mentally praying that they'd come by this way so she could have someone to ask directions to. She'd given up finding the damn machine on her own, feeling that if she continued to pursue that path, she would end up going around in circles for the remainder of the day; and that wasn't ideal at all, considering she still had Dongyeon to annoy and dramas to binge back home.

As it turned out, fate was on her side today, and soon, she could see two boys heading towards her direction. Although her vision wasn't very sharp, she could at least estimate that one of the boys was absurdly tall with eye-grabbing green hair, while the other seemed to be much more normal in terms of appearance, sporting a height that wasn't out of the average range for high school students and a haircut that seemed a little old fashioned, but it was still normal—and ah, the other kid's hair was black, as compared to his friend's shade of green.

"Excuse me!" It was supposed to get their attention, and considering how the both of them swiveled their heads toward her direction, the attempt seemed to be a success. There was a questioning look on both their faces, although she noticed it was softer on the black haired guy when compared to his friend, who seemed to be more on the cold side of things. "Do you know where the vending machine is?"

"You don't know where the vending machine is, nanodayo," stated the green haired guy—Shin-chan?—in a flat tone.

Nanodayo was also a word she wasn't familiar with—perhaps it was some kind of new slang she hadn't heard back then?

Doyeon nodded. "Um, yeah. I'm actually not a student here, just visiting because of a club practice."

"You're not from Shūtoku?" Takao sounded very excited about it, as he dragged Shin-chan along with him on his jumpy steps towards the female student. "Which school are you from then?"

"Seirin. I'm in their dance club," she explained, palms placed on each side of her pants. After she'd mentioned the name of her high school, however, a spark of recognition seemed to be ignited in both of the boys' eyes, Midorima's brighter than Takao's. Perhaps they knew someone from her high school? Takao seemed to be the type of person who'd have friends outside his own high school, although she didn't know about Shin-chan. "My senpai is waiting for me so could you guys please show me the way?"

That seemed to snap Takao out of whatever excitement he was in, although she noticed that even if he was significantly less excited than before, he still looked rather happy. The comparison was not missed when you decided to observe the peculiar Shin-chan as well, who looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else but here. Were all male friendships she'd witness this odd?

"Right, of course!" Takao's smile was sunny, almost blinding, but that was alright. She liked bright smiles; they reminded her of her best friend, who was probably equally missing Doyeon right now. They were two peas in a pod, and some people even made the assumption that they were secretly seeing each other behind everyone's backs—that was how close they were. "Follow me."

"I don't see why I have to follow," Shin-chan drawled, and Takao was used to this kind of treatment, apparently, as he didn't seem too bothered by it.

"Don't mind Shin-chan, he's just a big ol' tsundere who's grumpy because he left behind his rabbit keychain at home!"

It took effort for her to hold back a giggle considering Shin-chan's murderous expression, because really, who would've thought he was the type to carry around bunny keychains?

Shin-chan seemed to sense the direction of her thoughts, however, because he smoothly interjected, "Oha-Asa predicted that I'd forget something important today, and Oha-Asa is never wrong. Cancers have the second to worst luck today." She didn't have to squint to hear the pout in his voice, although she had no idea what an Oha-Asa was. It sounded like he was awfully reliant on it, however, so it had to be something cool.

"Oha-Asa? I've never heard of it before," Doyeon commented idly, tilting her head slightly so she could look at Shin-chan when she spoke.

"Oha-Asa is a daily fortune for the zodiac signs, nanodayo. My luck never fails because of it; God proposes, man disposes." The tone he used was matter-of-fact and at the same time repetitive, and it led her to believe that explaining was Oha-Asa was had become a daily occurrence for him. Personally, she wasn't the biggest fan of zodiacs, preferring the MBTI types when it came to reading personalities; not only did it have a scientific basis, zodiac seemed to be purely based on divination.

Although she was a skeptic, so perhaps Shin-chan liked to believe that horoscopes and everything else along that line were valid. The whole luck thing seemed to be a psychological effect, something that she'd read prior about suggestion or something like that. Still, Midorima seemed to follow it reverently, and considering they met only today (not even five minutes ago), it was too soon for her to make a casual joke out of that.

"I see." She didn't press for more details afterwards, and she doubted Shin-chan would bother to explain more about something she obviously seemed not too interested in. Takao was silent during the exchange of conversation, although the short dialogue between her and Shin-chan ended, he continued to ramble on about Shūtoku and its basketball team.

Huh, so they played basketball. They were rather tall, so it would explain it; Shin-chan, in particular, was exceptionally tall to the point she needed to look up when she talked to him.

"By the way, did you do that to your shoes on purpose?" Takao wondered out loud, and Doyeon grinned, flashing him a toothy smile as well as a thumbs up. Today she was wearing two shoes of the same model but with different colours; two sneakers, although one was hot pink while the other was mustard yellow.

"Uh-huh! It's my way of expressing myself," explained Doyeon, doing a few hand gestures in reflex. "It's fun to mix and match."

Takao blinked, apparently not having expected the straightforward response, but the look disappeared almost immediately as it was replaced with a wide grin. "You're pretty interesting! Hey, what's your name?"

This was usually the moment when they'd falter in their conversation upon hearing Doyeon's very not Japanese name, most likely wondering why she was here or whether she was lying because of her advanced Japanese skills (she wouldn't consider herself fluent, as the years had led her to grow rusty in her pronunciation and grammar at times), but, although Doyeon was quickly growing tired of that reaction, lying about her identity would lead to an even bigger mess. She didn't like it when situations were messy; it reminded her eerily of that.

"I'm Kim Doyeon. Nice to meet you." The smile on Doyeon's face was looking more like her convenience store shift smile rather than her usual, genuine grins, but considering how both of the boys seemed undaunted, the smile grew wider on its own course.

"My name's Takao Kazunari! It's nice to meet you too, Kim-chan!"

A -chan suffix almost immediately? That was something she rarely heard from guys in Japan, although she didn't really mind. She didn't even mind when someone called her by her first name, considering she'd called many of her friends by their first names back in South Korea, only adding a -ssi suffix if they were older (and not yet close, in which that would change to eonnie or oppa) or barely knew each other.

"I'm Midorima Shintarou, nanodayo," introduced Shin-chan in a more quiet fashion than his friend's, and ah, Shin-chan was an affectionate nickname. Got it.

The mismatched group of three stopped in front of a vending machine filled with various ice-cold drinks. The detail on the vending machine itself was rather boring, as it was a regular vending machine with a plastic blue colour, but with vending machines it was the inside that mattered rather than the outside. "Here we are!" Takao said, reminiscent of a tour guide.

Turning so that she could face the two boys, Doyeon bowed, showing her thanks. "Thank you very much."

"Can you find your own way back?" teased Takao, gaining a good-natured laugh from the Korean who was already rifling through her pockets to find the money she'd shoved inside this morning. Hopefully none of it fell while she was dancing earlier, because that'd be a lot of pain, to have to go back just to fetch her money before returning to the location of the vending machine once more.

"I think I can. Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it." There was no trace of a lie or malice in Doyeon's words, considering she was sure she would've been lost for a much longer time had the two basketball players not been conveniently around. "Shouldn't you both return to practice? I'm sure your coach and manager are waiting for you."

Takao pouted, resembling a sad cat. (It was cat instead of puppy considering the sharpness of his eyes.) "We don't have a manager." Although he didn't sound genuinely sad about it, Doyeon nodded, mirroring his pout in a sympathetic manner.

"The captain's probably looking for us. We should get back." Midorima, bless his blunt zodiac-enthusiast soul, snapped Takao out of his former sulk. "You are welcome." The last words were directed to her, leaving her answering him with a simple smile.

"See you, Kim-chan! Be sure to come by one of our matches sometimes!" Takao waved as her even as he departed, and Doyeon returned the wave just as enthusiastically, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

After the two basketball players were out of her range, that was only when she returned her attention to the machine. It took a while, but after looking through her pockets and even the _inside_ of them, she was able to find enough money to get one freezing seeming ion drink. (That drink was apparently the cheapest too, so it seemed as if luck was on her side today. Much unlike Midorima, who believed his sign had the second worst luck on this particular Saturday.)

The trek back towards the auditorium was still a little confusing, but compared to the first minutes she'd spent trying to find the vending machine before Takao and Midorima helped her, it was nothing. By the time she pushed the doors to the auditorium open, however, she noticed that the majority of the dancers were already cleaning up, getting ready to go home. The dancers from Seirin too, it seemed, were in the process of packing their bags and throwing away their leftover trash. Did it really take her that long just to get a cold drink?

Before she was able to contemplate it further (and blame herself even more in the process), Rina was suddenly in front of her, looking like a grumpy little child. "Doyeon-chan, what took you so long?" The older practically wailed, but all the sadness was alleviated upon spotting the drink clutched in Doyeon's right fist. "Oh! That's mine, right? Gimme gimme."

"I'm sorry, senpai. The vending machine was difficult to find." As Doyeon explained the reason to how long it took her to find a drink, she loosened her hold on the drink, handing it over to the older who accepted it as quick as lightning. She was about to give a longer, more detailed explanation as well as another apology, but Rina was already bundling away from her, yelling about how she was ' _finally_ going to heal' her feet that felt like 'nasty sons of bitches.'

How the older was so profane, she wasn't sure if she wanted to find out.


End file.
